Methods and apparatus for optical beam steering including a laser to generate a beam having an optical frequency and an optical phase modulator (OPM) to impart a shift in the optical frequency of the beam from the laser. A dispersive optical element maps the shift in the optical frequency to a corresponding angle with respect to the dispersive optical element, which can comprise a diffraction grating.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the laser comprises a monochromatic laser.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the optical phase modulator comprises a fiber-coupled device having an electro-optically active crystal.
4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the optical phase modulator comprises an electro-optic modulator (EOM).
5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the optical phase modulator comprises an electro-optic modulator (EOM) having a purely capacitive input.
6. The system according to claim 1, further including a signal generator to drive the OPM with a saw tooth voltage waveform.
7. The system according to claim 1, further including an optical band-pass filter to filter an output of the OPM.
8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the optical band-pass filter includes a pass band centered on an optical frequency of a side band.
9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the shift in the optical frequency of the beam from the laser is performed completely in an opto-electronic domain without moving parts.
10. The system according to claim 1, further including a fiber amplifier coupled to an output of the OPM.
11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the diffraction grating is transmissive or reflective.
12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the diffraction grating comprises a binary grating.
13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the diffraction grating is configured to operate in multiple orders with a diffraction efficiency the same in each of the multiple orders.
14. The system according to claim 1, further including additional lasers to produce additional beams, wherein the laser and the additional lasers each have a distinct frequency and the OPM imparts an optical frequency shift to the additional beams, each of the additional beam shifted in frequency such that the dispersive optical element generates a spatially single beam.
15. The system according to claim 1, further including a transform optical component to focus the beam at the dispersive optical element.
16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the optical beam steering system forms a part of a LiDAR system.
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June 3, 2020
May 28, 2024
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